October 25, 2011

BAE Systems and UMBC Announce New Partnership

Today, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County announced a corporate partnership with BAE Systems, which has committed an investment of $150,000 to support teaching, research and technology development in the cybersecurity field.

"UMBC is committed to building a strong and lasting partnership with BAE Systems,” said UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski. “This is a model university-industry partnership that will engage our students and faculty, address workforce challenges, and help strengthen our national security infrastructure."

UMBC is a national leader in educating the next generation of technology workers. More than 2,000 graduate and undergraduate students, 20 percent of the student body, are enrolled in programs critical to the cybersecurity industry, including computer science, information systems, computer engineering, systems engineering, cybersecurity, electrical engineering and mathematics.

Paul Falkler, BAE Systems’ Vice President and General Manager of Information Technology & Cybersecurity Solutions (ITCS) said, “While working with UMBC over the last eight years, I have continuously been impressed by the high level of professionalism of its employees, its strong academic programs and the caliber of its students. This past summer, we needed interns to support our cybersecurity business on short notice, and UMBC delivered talented ones that helped shaped the solutions we offer our customers. That’s very impressive.”

As part of the new partnership, BAE Systems will join UMBC’s Career Services Employer Partnership Program, which offers specialized support to help employers meet their campus recruiting goals. In addition, the company will provide seed money for faculty research; sponsor UMBC’s cyberdefense team, the Cyberdawgs; and support the Center for Women in Technology (CWIT).

The partnership will also enable UMBC's Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering to develop an active learning computer science classroom that meets the unique goals and challenges of the department’s introductory courses. This laboratory will allow faculty to provide appropriate problem sets to students, to engage them as individuals and in teams, and to develop and track outcomes that ensure students build fundamental skills. All of those activities are central to students’ success in the increasingly rigorous upper level classes at UMBC -- and in their futures beyond campus.